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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The Soul of the Series

So I started Soul of Flame before it was even released.I was one of the lucky few that Rebecca
Ethington gave an advanced release copy to, wahoo!!!So why am I just now writing about it, almost
a month later?

Several reasons.#1 this has been one of the busiest months I’ve
had in years!#2 (and this one hurts to
admit) I’m like a spoiled little brat when it comes to reading what I’m “supposed”
to.See Rebecca never asked me to post at a specific date.She never asked me to read it
quickly.She really didn’t ask for
anything but an honest review once I finished it, but I still felt pressure as though I was “supposed” to read it (like
an assignment in school).So what did I
do?I procrastinated.Even though every page was gripping and I
LOVED the whole thing… I threw my little 4 yr old tantrum at being told what to
do and procrastinated.There. I admit
it.

Now to be honest, I did write a blog post when I was about
30% of the way through.I just didn’t
post it because by the time I was done it didn’t really apply anymore…. But
I think I want to include it here so I can discuss what I learned:

I should probably start this with
**SPOILER ALERT** but honestly I haven’t finished the book so it seems a little
weird to do it that way.Will I finish
this book?ABSOLUTELY!!But right now I have to take a little break
because my imaginary friends are making me angry and sometimes you just have to
take a breath and walk out of the room for a little bit.

But, see, that’s the thing… when
you take a break, you walk out of the room for a little bit – you don’t leave
the entire building when it is surrounded by the enemy.You don’t pull your heart and your essence
away from the one you love, just when she needs you most!Darn it, Ilyan!You are the best protagonist to come along in
- I can’t tell you how long, and now I’m mad at you!You stood by Joclyn when she was weak, when
she was dying, and you told her you were so proud of her when you saw her
strength growing… but now that she is strong enough to stand up to you does
that all change?You know that the
things she said were not her own words but the words of Edmund, Cail, and
Ryland.You are wise enough to realize
that her mind has been twisted until she doesn’t know what’s right anymore – so
how can you leave her so completely that she can’t even reach out and
apologize.What she said was completely
out of line, and mean, and spiteful, but you should be man enough to work
through it.You can’t possibly think
that just because you waited so long to find her life would be a bed of
roses once you did.

Sorry, I know you (the reader of
this) are not Ilyan so I apologize for breaking off into my little rant to
him.But that’s where I stand right
now.I put down the book for a little
breather, but I haven’t left the building, so to speak (the Kindle is right
here beside me and I am willing to listen to an apology, lol).

I must be honest and admit:I think what upsets me most is that the Ilyan
in my mind was perfect and this temper of his shows weakness.I don’t want him to have a weakness, but
honestly this just makes him more real.Only pretend people have no weaknesses and Rebecca has made him even
more authentic in letting this be seen… but I still don’t like it, because if
his heart and Joclyn’s heart are breaking, then so is mine.

So the reason this didn’t apply anymore is that after I
wrote this I picked the book back up and within a couple of pages was the
SWEETEST REUNION SCENE EVER!!!They
totally made up and, even better, they realized how important they were to each
other.I was in tears!I just love them so much.

So now that I have reached the end of the book I want to
include that old post because I do think I learned a valuable lesson about heroes.They are flawed (in real life and in fiction).If they aren’t flawed they aren’t
believable.Why does it work this
way?Because we are all flawed.There has only ever been one perfect man and
He walked this earth over 2,000 years ago.The people who are around us now are going to fail us.They are going to mess up, hurt our feelings,
get angry and make us angry.We don’t
need to by cynical about it, but we need to know that at times we will need to
forgive and at others we will need forgiveness.This is a beautiful picture of
that!Thanks, Rebecca!

Oh, and also… the rest of the book is INCREDIBLE and
deserves to be read (more quickly than I did) but I’m not pressuring you to
read it because... well, I just don’t want to be hypocritical.

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A Favorite Quote

“Fantasy goes one stage beyond realism; requiring complete intellectual surrender, it asks more of the reader, and at its best may offer more . . . Fantasy is the metaphor through which we discover ourselves.”